Rick Fox on the Powerful Influence of the Web on Entertainment

It's always exciting when high-profile personalities acknowledge the Internet space and the opportunities that exist on it. When this happens, it only helps to further validate what we, those of us involved in the Internet/tech space, live and breathe every day.

Rick Fox speaking to WebProNews at the BlogWorld Expo about his passion for new media was one of these moments. Fox, who is known for his successful NBA, acting, and producing career, told us that he turned to the Internet because he wanted to tell his story.

He is currently working on a Web series called Off Season, which is a comedy based on a basketball player that is struggling to stay out of trouble. Fox told us he tried Hollywood but found that his standards and its standards didn't match.

"What I realized rather quickly was that the Internet provided me the same opportunity that television provides or the movies provide... it's a self-distribution model that is there for all of us if we're passionate enough and persistent enough to bring our story to life," said Fox.

Even though it's not always easy to 'make it big' online, the opportunities and potential for success are much greater than they are offline. According to Fox, "we are all received online," whether it is by one person or one million people.

"The thing about the Web is that viral effect that great content can have where, instantly, you can go from one minute sitting in your living room and ranting about something that just bothers you, and you find that 1 million other people out there in the world are bothered by the same thing," he said.

Fox went on to say that the world's perception of what entertainment is, isn't really what people want to see. This is why John Doe is able to create a remix of a song and get more hits than the original song itself.

He believes that the future of the entertainment industry lies in the individuals that create content based on their point of view. For too long, people in high places have tried to dictate what society wants, but the Internet has changed this. Fox told us that the entertainment opportunities online would increase moving forward and that the people who have embraced the space early will go on to tell us who the next generation of entertainers will be.

"Those people that are brave enough to step out and have that persistence of speaking to 1-10 followers one day and [are] now speaking to 10 million people - these are the people that are going to be galvanizing communities and they are gonna curate content... and they're gonna tell us what we should be focused on, and they're gonna become the next generation of entertainers," said Fox.

For 5 years, WebProNews has partnered with BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the world's first and largest new media conference, in an effort to broadcast how new media can grow your business, brand, and audience. Stay tuned to WebProNews for much more exclusive coverage.